Safety Glasses at work

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Wester
Wester Posts: 257 Forumite
in Employment, jobseeking & training
I work are a cleaner in a housing estate have have been in the job for just over six years and have been wearing safety glasses all the time to keep dust and water splashes out of my eyes


Now my employer told me not to wear them anymore as the are effecting the quality of my work which is total nonsense . I find it very hard to get on without them


Can my boss do this ? I do not think so
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  • eamon
    eamon Posts: 2,319 Forumite
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    This is probably a first getting reprimanded for using PPE.


    Questions though.


    Have all your work activities been risk assessed? Are you privy to these documents? What PPE is mentioned?

    Are the glasses provided by your employer? If not this is a potential issue as you are wearing/using equipment that they have not risk assessed and approved for use by employees.
    To solve the issue you need to raise the issue with your line manager and possibly your employers Health and Safety Manager/Officer. State clearly why you think they are an excellent idea, mention that H&S also falls on your shoulders as well and dont want to risk injury when at work. If cost is the issue then all the big H&S suppliers sell a huge range of safety glasses in the £2 to £7.50 price band and compared to the cost of having an employee of work due to an industrial injury its peanuts.
  • scd3scd4
    scd3scd4 Posts: 1,180 Forumite
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    What happens it you needed glasses for vision?
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
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    If you don't think so, why are you asking?

    I was under the impression that eyelids were the usual way of keeping dust or water splashes out of your eyes? What is the reason that you need them? I can't say that I can recall ever seeing cleaners wearing such things for health and safety reasons. So I think that you are going to need a better argument than dust.

    The bottom line here, which you need to be hearing, is that your employer is telling you that your performance is unacceptable. They are suggesting that your glasses, which are not employer issue, is the fault - not shoddy performance. Would you prefer that they stay down the road of saying your work is unacceptable- because that's the route to losing your job?
  • jobbingmusician
    jobbingmusician Posts: 20,343 Forumite
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    Strangely, this is an area I do know something about because I had a job for a while training kitchen staff in the proper use of their cleaning products.

    All the products the firm I worked for had COSHH information on the bottle stating what precautions should be used when applying the product. I assume you are using products from the original bottle - if you are not, and the chemicals are stored in an unlabelled bottle, this is a breach of H & S regs in itself. If you are, what do the COSHH instructions say? If they don't recommend eye protection, your employer has a point. If they do, then PPE should be provided.
    I was a board guide here for many years, but have now resigned. Amicably, but I think it reflects very poorly on MSE that I have not even received an acknowledgement of my resignation! Poor show, MSE.

    This signature was changed on 6.4.22. This is an experiment to see if anyone from MSE picks up on this comment.
  • ohreally
    ohreally Posts: 7,525 Forumite
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    Obtain the COSSH data sheets for the chemicals you are using (data sheets will contain comprehensive information), this in conjunction with risk assessments will provide you with information which may or may not be useful particularly if there are performance issues that the employer is focusing on.
    Don’t be a can’t, be a can.
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
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    But what chemicals? The OP specified that it was protection against dust and splashes of water. Neither of which have COSSH data sheets.
  • elsien
    elsien Posts: 32,833 Forumite
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    If your employer thinks your work is not of satisfactory quality then you need to address that. Just saying it's total nonsense and doing nothing about it could potentially see performance managed out of your job.

    This isn't about the glasses, it's about whether you're doing an adequate job. If your line manager says that you aren't, you need to find out what they want you to improve and how.
    All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

    Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.
  • ohreally
    ohreally Posts: 7,525 Forumite
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    sangie595 wrote: »
    But what chemicals?

    My bad.....
    Don’t be a can’t, be a can.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
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    sangie595 wrote: »
    But what chemicals? The OP specified that it was protection against dust and splashes of water. Neither of which have COSSH data sheets.

    Maybe that's the problem, using water when they hould be using chemicals.
  • jobbingmusician
    jobbingmusician Posts: 20,343 Forumite
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    sangie595 wrote: »
    But what chemicals? The OP specified that it was protection against dust and splashes of water. Neither of which have COSSH data sheets.


    Water is water, agreed - although the OP may have meant 'liquid'. But asbestos dust is still dust. I'm not trying to imply the OP is working with asbestos, just pointing out that there are different sorts of dust.
    I was a board guide here for many years, but have now resigned. Amicably, but I think it reflects very poorly on MSE that I have not even received an acknowledgement of my resignation! Poor show, MSE.

    This signature was changed on 6.4.22. This is an experiment to see if anyone from MSE picks up on this comment.
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